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A. TRIBUTE 


TO THE MEMORY OE 

ELI AM E. BARNEY. 


BY 



REV. HENRY F. COLBY, 

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Pastor of the First Baptist Church, Dayton, Ohio. 



CINCINNATI : 

ROBERT CLARKE & CO. 































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CONTENTS. 

MEMOIR 

0 PAGE. 

By Rev. Henry F. Colby, . . . . .9 

TRIBUTES 

From the Directors of the Second National Bank of Dayton, 78 

From the Foremen of the Car Works, 79 

From the Cincinnati Baptist Social Union, . . .80 

From the Montgomery County Horticultural Society, . 82 

From the Trustees of Denison University, . . .85 

From the Stockholders of- the Wisconsin Central R. R. Co., 87 








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ELIAM E. BARNEY. 


LIAM E. BARNEY was the son of Benjamin 



J — 1 Barney, a native of Guilford, Vermont, and 
Nancy Potter of Massachusetts. His father, at the 
age of twenty-one, had come to Henderson, four 
miles from Sackett’s Harbor, on Lake Ontario, 
Jefferson county, New York. Though he had 
nothing but his axe and a vigorous constitution to 
begin with, he soon developed the land which he 
had “taken up” in the new country into a com- 
fortable farm. Besides his diligence and prudence, 
he was a man of great independence of character, 
preferring to form his own estimates of every 
thing. By private study in his new home he made 
up some of the deficiencies of his early education, 
so that he was not only a good farmer but a citizen 
much respected for his intelligence and enterprise. 
He was a captain of militia in the War of 1812, 
and served in the defense of Sackett’s Harbor from 


( 9 ) 


2 


10 


the English. His wife was the daughter of a rev- 
olutionary soldier. Eliam was the oldest of eleven 
children. He was horn at Henderson, October 14, 
1807. The reminiscences of his earliest years were 
connected with the simple log cabin which his 
father first built at Henderson. This stood back 
from the road, surrounded by a high rail fence, 
upon which, as his mother was wont to relate, the 
active little child would gleefully clamber and 
tumble, greatly to her anxiety. Another of his 
roguish exploits, when very young, was climbing- 
up to the top of the rude chimney outside of the 
house, and crying out: “It smokes; it smokes,” 
as looking down he made those within aware of his 
dangerous position. When he was eight or nine 
years old his father erected a new house, a stone 
cottage, so built upon the side of the limestone 
hill that it had one story in front and two stories 
behind. A thrifty orchard and a large barn were 
additional signs of increasing prosperity. 

Here several years were passed among the usual 
scenes and occupations of a frontier settlement at 
that early day. His younger brother, Elijah G. 
Barney, writes : “From his earliest youth he was 
remarkable for three things, industry, order, and 
thoughtfulness. In school his books were always 
carefully placed upon his desk in the order in which 


11 


these were to be used. The examples on his slate 
were compactly set down in regular order, and gen- 
erally all those under a given rule were preserved 
until the slate could hold no more. Then it was 
cleaned with a sponge and he began again. When 
about fourteen years of age he was sent to Sack- 
ett’s Harbor with a load of produce, and I was al- 
lowed to go with him. Returning after night I 
fell asleep, and he fixed me a bed on the grain 
sacks in the wagon, but soon after he discovered 
that one of the wheels was running off the axle, 
the linch-pin having worked out. He awoke me 
to hold the horses while he tied the wheel on ; then 
he drove slowly, allowing the wheel to slide. But 
I could hardly close my eyes before he would again 
awake me to hold the horses while he changed the 
wheel, so as not to wear the tire all in one place. 
Finally, much to my relief, he stopped at Captain 
Burt’s and borrowed a linch-pin, which he took 
back himself next morning before breakfast, for 
fear Captain Burt might need it. Such thought- 
fulness in a boy of fourteen seems to me remarka- 
ble. Indeed, he sprang at one leap over the years 
of boyhood. Only two instances can I remember 
that would show any boyishness. Once when he 
was taking some wheat out of a deep bin he found 
a family of mice in the bottom, and told me to 


12 


watch that they did not get out while he went for 
the cat that we might see her catch them. The 
other instance was when he was sixteen. He 
bought a* fife and tried to learn to play on it. He 
would blow on it until our ears would split, but 
never a tune could he coax out of it. He loved 
music, but could not excel in that line as a per- 
former.” 

It was when he had reached his fourteenth year 
that a change took place in his thoughts and pur- 
poses that gave character to all his subsequent life. 
His parents were devout people. Though living 
at a distance from church, they united with some 
of their neighbors in a desire for greater attention 
to the subject of religion. Three married couples 
agreed to meet regularly at a certain place for 
prayer, and one of the most precious answers to 
their petitions was that young Barney became 
thoughtfully and avowedly an humble follower of 
the Lord Jesus Christ. His conscience was so 
awakened that he felt himself to be a sinner in the 
sight of a holy God, and in need of that pardon 
which can only be obtained through the work of a 
Savior. One day, returning from the barn, where 
he had been secretly praying for himself, he joy- 
fully told his parents that the load had been lifted 
from his heart. His mother, in after years, fre- 


13 


quently spoke of her vivid recollection of his 
beaming countenance as he brought to her the 
welcome announcement. In deepest sympathy 
with his thoughts she was able at the first glance 
to anticipate what he was about to say. He felt 
that his sins were forgiven, and that thenceforth his 
life should be consecrated to the service of God. 
He was anxious to improve the first opportunity to 
follow his Savior in the ordinance of baptism. 
It was winter. His mother’s health would not 
allow her to leave the house to witness the 
solemn rite. So on Saturday, according to 
the recollections of his brother, a dam of snow 
was made across the “spring branch,” which 
ran from under the rock on which their house was 
built. This spring branch never froze for a dis- 
tance of about three hundred feet from where it 
issued from the rock. Taking advantage of this 
fact they formed a pool near enough to the 
house to enable his mother to observe the whole 
scene from the window. In this Eliam and his 
sisters, Sarah and Mary, were baptized by Rev. 
Emery 0. Osgood. Mr. Osgood was preaching 
to the Baptist Church, at “ The Hollow,” since 
called Smithville, a few miles distant, upon the 
road from Henderson to Sackett’s Harbor. He 
was much esteemed for his earnest piety,— and be- 


14 


tween his family and that of the Barneys there 
grew up not only intimate friendship, but at a sub- 
sequent date connection by marriage. Eliam, at 
his baptism, became a member of the church at 
Smith ville, but not long afterwards Mr. Osgood re- 
signed to become a missionary to the Oneida In- 
dians, a service in which he soon ended his life. 
The elder Barneys had been for some time mem- 
bers of the Baptist Church at “ Clark’s Corners,” 
in the township of Ellisburg, three miles from 
their home, or the Belleville Baptist Church, as it 
has since been called. It was the first Baptist 
Church organized in that section, and their names 
appear among its founders. Their pastor was 
Rev. Martin E. Cook, who ministered to that 
church twenty-eight years, and afterwards, as it is 
pleasant in this connection to record, became the 
pastor of the Baptist Church in Dayton, Ohio. The 
early esteem felt for him by the subject of this 
sketch doubtless had much to do with his transfer 
to this locality. He was then recommended by 
his Eastern brethren as “ orthodox in sentiment, 
sound in faith and practice, prudent in his meas- 
ures, and wise in council.” On Sunday mornings 
Benjamin Barney was wont to bring out the great 
farm wagon and take his family to church, picking 
up along the way several aged and infirm people 


15 


who watched for him in their doors, ready with 
their chairs, to become a part of the cheerful load. 
He was one of the leaders in the church, always 
active in the devotional meetings ; and when the 
frame meeting-house was destroyed by fire he ener- 
getically pushed forward a subscription which re- 
sulted in the building of a stone one. At the dedi- 
cation of this, Elder Knapp, later the famous evan- 
gelist, and Rev. John Blodgett, afterwards so 
beloved in Ohio, preached. Nor should we forget 
to mention the devotion of Eliam’s mother among 
the good matrons of the church. Her name is en- 
rolled among those who constituted, in 1814, “ The 
Baptist Female Mite Society, of Ellisburg.” It 
was the result of the visit to that locality of Rev. 
Luther Rice, a co-worker of Adoniram Judson, who 
had returned to this country from Burmah, and was 
arousing the churches to their duty in regard to 
foreign missions. These devout women agreed to 
give each fifty cents a year into the treasury, and 
in that day it often required great exertions on 
their part to meet the obligation. Under their 
busy fingers the spinning wheel and the loom were 
made to assist in the work, and various, little sac- 
rifices were cheerfully made. The organization 
still exists as a circle of the Womans’ Baptist Mis- 
sionary Society. From the day of his first profes- 


16 


sion of religion Eliam seems to have been always 
interested in things that pertain to the Kingdom of 
God. If he ever became careless and reckless as a 
young man we have yet to learn of it. He felt 
that the Lord had laid hold of him, and he pressed 
forward to apprehend that for which also he had 
been apprehended. 

Two or three years later his father, who had been 
fairly prospered up to this time, was induced to 
indorse some notes for his uncle, who owned a farm 
in Adams township. Very soon afterwards, this 
uncle was drowned, and the burden of debt thus 
imposed was a serious calamity, which weighed 
heavily upon the family for many years. In order 
to gain any prospect of paying the notes it became 
necessary to leave Henderson, to sell the farm 
there, which had been reclaimed from the wilder- 
ness and imj)roved with so much care and thought, 
and to move on to the farm at Adams. About the 
same time also losses by fire added to their mis- 
fortunes. The barn was struck by lightning and 
consumed, with nearly the whole of the year’s 
crop, which had been stored within it. But these 
trials were the means in God’s providence for de- 
veloping the character of all the children, and es- 
pecially of him whose completed life to-day stands 
before us. The earnest boy at once entered into 


17 


his father’s cares. He worked so hard on the farm 
that his health broke down, and the beginning was 
then made, it was thought, of physical infirmities, 
that followed him for years. Over his younger 
brothers and sisters he exerted a commanding but 
loving influence which they were always ready to 
acknowledge with pride and joy. He was watch- 
ful over their interests, guarded them from temp- 
tation, and inspired them by his example* 

Amid all his difficulties his father, with a keen 
appreciation of learning, which should be remem- 
bered to his honor, never lost sight of a purpose to 
give his children the best education he could. But 
he was obliged to say to Eliam : “ I fear the most I 
can accomplish is to give you an education, and 
then you must help your brothers and sisters to get 
the same.” 

At another time his father was solicited to be- 
come a candidate for Congress, and was assured by 
appreciating friends that he could not only receive 
the nomination, but be elected also. He replied 
to them that he felt himself unequal to the duties 
of the office for want of a suitable education ; “but ” 
said he, turning to his son, who was beside him, 
“ here is a lad that I intend shall have such an ed- 
ucation that when he becomes a man he will be 
fitted for any position to which his friends may call 


18 


him.” In relating this incident in after years the 
subject of our sketch remarked that for some time 
after it occurred, the ambition to be a member of 
Congress when he grew up to manhood was a great 
incentive to study, but that as he became better 
acquainted with politics he lost all desire in that 
direction. He began to fit for college after the 
family moved into Adams township, and went 
twice a week into the village to recite to a physi- 
cian, who was a graduate. But, soon after, Bev. 
Joshua Bradley was called to preach to the Belle- 
ville Church. Intensely interested in the educa- 
tion of the young, he found in Eliam’s father an 
earnest helper, and the result of a great deal of 
hard work on the part of these and a few others 
was the establishment of an academy at Belle- 
ville, of which Mr. Bradley was the first princi- 
cipal. About the same time, Mr. Barney changed 
his residence and came to live nearer to Belle- 
ville. Mr. Bradley, with his wife and daughter, 
became a part of the Barney household. The 
academy was commenced in a rude wooden build- 
ing, and all its arrangements were on a scale of the 
strictest economy. Soon after, a stone building was 
erected for the school, and it has since become widely 
known as Union Academy, celebrating its semi- 
centennial a few years since. Eliam was one of 




19 


the first pupils, studying with all his might. He 
had transferred his membership from the Smith- 
ville Church to that at Belleville, and maintained 
his fidelity to religious duties in the midst of 
studious habits. One, who knew him as a fellow- 
student at that time, says: “ lie was considered 
a leader in all good enterprises among the stu- 
dents, and was distinguished for the strict pro- 
priety of his general deportment.” He advanced 
so rapidly that he was able to help himself by 
teaching in the winter when he was eighteen years 
of age, and so continued to pursue his studies un- 
til he was fitted to enter the sophomore class of 
Union College, at Schenectady, then under the 
presidency of the celebrated Dr. Nott. The in- 
struction he had received at the academy at Belle- 
ville was always held by him in grateful remem- 
brance, and in after years, when financial prosper- 
ity had come to him, he placed his name among 
the subscribers to its endowment, making his sub- 
scription as a memorial to his father and mother, 
who had been so active in its first establishment. 

Rev. Joshua Bradley, his teacher at Belleville, 
afterwards came to Ohio, and traveled in behalf 
of Granville College, where Mr. Barney, as we shall 
learn, became for a time a teacher. Rev. Wil- 
liam Ashmore, D.D., missionary to China, relates 


20 


how, when a young lad, he was taken in the good 
man’s chaise from his father’s house and carried 
to Granville to pursue his studies. How abiding 
is the influence of those who awaken young minds 
to seek a Christian education ! 

When Eliam left home for Union College it 
was the first separation that had taken place in 
the family, and so truly had he been the pride 
of all the household that it was an occasion of 
mingled sorrow and hope. The scene well illus- 
trates the devout spirit that characterized that 
Christian home. The father was to take his son’ 
and two or three other young men from the neigh- 
borhood in the farm wagon the hundred and thirty 
miles which separated their home from Schen- 
ectady. After an early dinner, the family all 
bowed together in prayer ; first, the father led 
their joetitions to the Throne of Grace, and then 
the mother’s gentle voice was heard imploring 
blessings for her son, and then Eliam himself 
prayed for special Providential care and mercy to 
rest upon himself and the loved ones he was 
about to leave. A few minutes more and the 
wagon, with its precious freight, rolled out of sight 
of the weeping mother and sisters. Who can esti- 
mate the influence of that scene upon the young 
student’s future course ! His had been a childhood 


21 


spent under those religious influences, outspoken 
and positive, which seldom fail to be effective, and 
he went forth with the benediction of parents 
who walked with God. Having learned so early 
the value of a Christian home, it is not strange 
that he afterwards endeavored to impress the 
same character upon his own household, and to 
hand down to his children the same parental ex- 
ample. 

To help him begin his college course his father’s 
brother had advanced some money. This sum, and 
such earnings as he could gather by teaching a 
writing school evenings and instructing other stu- 
dents less advanced than himself, carried him 
through the first two years. In the last part 
of his course he taught a school at Sand Lake, 
which was near enough to Schenectady to enable 
him to carry on the studies of the senior year 
and recite with his class at intervals. By great 
diligence he was able to make his attainments, 
under this arrangement, satisfactory to both Pres- 
ident Nott and Professor Potter. He delighted 
in study, and formed habits of thoroughness in 
thought and of accuracy in its expression, which 
were of great value to him in after years. He 
ever kept in mind the industry and self-denials 
of the family at home in his behalf, and consid- 


22 


erecl how he might carry out his father’s injunc- 
tion that he must help the others to get the educa- 
tion he was himself acquiring. His letters to the 
family were full of encouragement and counsel, 
and not a text-book habitually used by him failed 
to show the most scrupulous care, that it might 
come to his brothers and sisters as fresh as possible. 
The suit of clothes he wore was spun and colored 
and woven by his mother and sisters from the wool 
of Saxon or merino sheep, which his father was the 
first to introduce into that part of the country. We 
can easily imagine him with his erect form, broad 
forehead, and searching eye, as clad in such a 
suit of homespun — and he never had any other 
till near his graduation — he stood as teacher before 
his winter school, or sat with his class in college. 
He was born to be a leader, and even then his 
power was felt by his associates. He was grad- 
uated in 1831. 

After graduation he continued to teach school 
for a short time at Sand Lake, but soon he was 
called to be the principal of Lowville Academy, 
in the same State. His college friend, Mr. C. 
M. Fay, was associated with him, and Miss Julia 
Smith and Miss Lucy C. Morgan were assist- 
ant teachers. There was an “academic board- 
ing hall,” in which the teachers lived with those 


23 


pupils who came from a distance. Here he re- 
mained two years, meeting with great success. 
Father Blodgett, as he was afterwards called, was 
at that time preaching to the Lowville Baptist 
Church, and found in him a faithful friend and 
helper. In the academy Mr. Barney was not sat- 
isfied with going through the usual routine of 
recitations, but endeavored to quicken the thoughts 
and stir up the energies of his pupils. For ex- 
ample, he laid aside the reading books- that had 
been in use and substituted copies of a popular 
horticultural journal, and soon there was great 
emulation among the boys in cultivating the 
ground about the academy. The catalogue for the 
year ending October 3, 1832, gives the names of 
eighty-five boys and fifty-three girls as pupils, and 
says: “ Daring the past year the school has been 
under the direction of Messrs. Barney and Fay, 
whose exertions have given universal satisfaction, 
and the success with which they have conducted 
the institution gives assurance of their ability to 
discharge the important duties which devolve 
upon their station. No one who has witnessed 
the improvement of the students, under their 
charge, can for a moment doubt the utility of the 
system they have adopted in giving instruction. 
It is one which requires the student to bring into 


24 


full exercise his reasoning powers, and instead of 
being the idle recipient of knowledge to become 
the active communicator. As far as practicable 
the s} r stem of reciting by questions and answers, 
and which makes a recitation little else than a 
series of affirmatives and negatives, is abandoned, 
and for it is substituted the analytic method, 
which requires the scholar to investigate and ar- 
range the subject of his studies so as to give it 
a recitation as far as possible in his own language.” 
Familiar as such methods of teaching are to 
many readers of these pages, they indicated at 
that early day an earnest and progressive spirit 
on the part of Mr. Barney. His religious char- 
acter was manifested in the devotional exercises 
with which he opened the daily sessions of his 
school. He also studied the character of every 
pupil, and inspired each with an ambition to make 
the most of life. The summer before his death, 
as the writer of these pages was riding with him 
along the beautiful shore of Chautauqua Lake, to 
which he had resorted to recuperate the health 
of himself and Mrs. Barney, he related how a 
few years ago a gentleman of character and in- 
fluence approached him in a Southern hotel and 
asked him if his name was Eliam E. Barney. 
Assured that it was, he threw his arms about 


25 


his neck, and said : “ Mr. Barney, I owe all I am 
to yon. Do you not remember that when you 
taught school in New York State, there was one 
boy on the front row whom everybody thought was 
stupid — who supposed himself to be a fool ? You 
watched him, you sat down beside him, you made 
him believe he could be something after all; and 
to-day he is permitted to express his gratitude.” 
Many such precious acknowledgments was Mr. 
Barney permitted to receive during his life. At 
Lowville, as afterwards throughout his whole career, 
he manifested a special interest in poor boys who 
were struggling to get an education, and he took 
delight in devising various little plans by which 
such might be put .in the way of earning enough to 
pay their board in neighboring families while they 
pursued their studies in his school. Under date 
of March 18, 1833, he wrote in answer to an ap- 
plication from a friend concerning a boy of this 
kind: 

“Be assured, I feel all the interest in your pro- 
tege you would wish or he desire. If he is what I 
think he may be, and indeed must be to have en- 
listed you so earnestly in his behalf, he shall not 
want for friends to assist him in ascending the hill of 
science. Assure him that, though its sides may at 
first appear rugged and the ascent laborious, if he 
3 


26 


but perseveres with untiring assiduity he will pres- 
ently find it only a gentle acclivity, ‘so smooth, so 
soft, so green, so full of goodly prospects and melo- 
dious sounds on every side, that the harp of Orpheus 
was not more charming.’ I am almost confident I 
could form plans for one or two more boys of the' 
class I think this to be. Therefore, if you know of 
more do not hesitate to send me word ; but be sure 
that they are diamonds of the first water, such as will 
repay the trouble of removing the rubbish from the 
sparkling brilliant. Only go on to encourage merit 
and genius when possessed by obscurity and pov- 
erty; and though only — 

“ ‘ Di tibi * et mens sibi conscia recti * praemia ferent; ’ 

Yet 

“ 1 In freta dum fluvii current, dum montibus umbrae 

Lustrabunt convexa, polus dum sidera pascet; 

Semper honos nomenque tuum landesque manebunt,’ " 

Here we have the enthusiasm of the classical 
teacher as well as the sympathies of a warm heart. 
In another letter, written about the same time, he 
indulges playfully in a vision of a large estate and 
an elegant mansion, all the work on which should 
be performed by indigent students, who should 
spend two or three hours per day in labor and the 
rest in study, under his gratuitous direction. He 
then adds: “0, if I envy any one, it is him who 
has the means to encourage and bring forward 


27 


merit and real worth when borne down by the tram- 
mels of ignorance, obscurity and oppression.” His 
father had signed his notes for the money which he 
had borrowed to help him through the latter part 
of his college course, and he felt an obligation to 
remain at Lowville until he had earned enough to 
meet this indebtedness ; but he had become much 
interested in accounts from Ohio, and was con- 
vinced that he could do more for his brothers and 
sisters, as well as for himself, if the family would 
move westward. He advised his father to sell out 
everything and to make the change, promising to 
follow himself as soon as he had paid off the debts. 
It required some determination for the parents to 
break the ties which bound them to the church and 
academy at Belleville, and many were the tears 
shed and the prayers offered by dear friends at 
their departure. When the time came for them to 
start in their own covered wagon, Eliam accom- 
panied them a day or two upon the way, specially 
anxious on account of his mother, who was in deli- 
cate health, and who was severely ill upon the 
journey. The scene is remembered by his- sister, 
when, cheerily bidding them to “push along and 
keep moving,” he waved his adieu to the little 
caravan, and returned to his work of teaching. It 
was a journey of about two week’s to their new 


28 


home at Auburn, Geauga County, in northern Ohio. 
They carried thither their devout habits and earn- 
est testimony for Christ, illustrating there also that 
strong religious character which finds no reason 
for indifference in diminished religious privileges, 
but which proceeds by the help, of God to create 
those privileges for its own comfort and the refor- 
mation of the community in which it dwells. 
Though at first they met with much opposition, 
they were soon influential in building up a small 
church of their own faith and order. Here, after 
a few months, Eliam joined them. 

He was anxious now to find some situation in 
the State of Ohio, where he might teach school 
and be able to give still further help to the younger 
members of the family. Tarrying only for a short 
visit with them, he started out on horseback, and 
after visiting different places he came on to Gran- 
ville, Ohio, where what is now Denison University 
had been lately established. There he was invited 
to fill, for a few months, the place of Prof. Drury, 
who had been appointed but had not yet arrived. 
This was in 1833, and was the commencement of 
the deep interest, which lie always continued to 
feel in that seat of learning to which he afterwards 
became so large a benefactor. Rev. Muncier Jones, 
who was a student at Granville at that time, says : 


29 


“ His classes were always anxious to meet him in 
the recitation room. He took more pains to make 
them understand the principles of what they were 
studying than any other teacher I ever recited to* 
At examinations his classes attracted many visi- 
tors. He had great tact, also, in searching out 
offenders. At one time a scurrilous paper had 
been written and tacked up in the hall, over which 
there arose a good deal of excitement. An excel- 
lent young man was charged with being the au- 
thor, to which he pleaded not guilty. The excite- 
ment became so intense that recitations were sus- 
pended. It. Gr. Corwin and another student were 
sent to Zanesville to request the father of the 
accused to come and see that his son had fair play. 
He was then absent from home as the Representa- 
tive of Muskingum county, so that the boys had 
to return without him. Mr. Barney, among the 
faculty, thought that perhaps the accused was not 
guilty, but kept it to himself. While at dinner he 
invited a student concerning whom he had sus*- 
picions to visit him in his study. Asking him if 
had seen the document, and obtaining an affirma- 
tive reply, he said : . . 

“ ‘ Do you remember any of the matter contained 
in it ? ’ When the student answered, ‘I do ; ’ 
he handed him a pen and said, ‘Write down 



30 


what you can recollect.’ He wrote a line or two, 
using the orthography of the document, which was 
had. Then looking up, he caught his teacher’s 
searching eye, began to tremble, dropped the pen, 
and confessed his guilt. The students were quickly 
convened. The faculty expressed their regret that 
the innocent one had been accused, and he was 
acquitted to the joy of all, but would undoubtedly 
have been sent away in disgrace, if it had not 
been for Mr. Barney. I remember, also, the in- 
terest he took in our literary society, the Zeta Phi 
Theta. He was always with us, and his presence 
was not only pleasant, but beneficial. We all 
loved him as a teacher and a brother.” 

To this testimony may be added another inci- 
dent which illustrates the regard felt for him by 
the students. A few years afterward he was trav- 
eling from Dayton to Granville, in a carriage, to 
attend commencement. One of the horses died 
near Columbus, and it was a question how the 
journey could be finished. Going to the proprie- 
tor of a neighboring farm, he inquired if he could 
hire a horse to drive to Granville, and be trusted 
to return him. “Yes,” said the man. “I will 
gladly let you take any horse I have.” The secret 
of this unexpected kindness on the part of the 
strange farmer was discovered in the fact that he 


* 


31 


had been one of Mr. Barney’s pupils at College, 
and was happy to do anything for his esteemed 
instructor. 

In seeking a permanent location, he had ad- 
dressed letters to the postmasters of several towns 
in Ohio, inquiring if there were any openings for a 
teacher like himself in their respective communi- 
ties. Mr. Cathcart, the postmaster at Dayton, was 
the only one who responded, and thither, therefore, 
he turned his steps when his engagement at Gran- 
ville terminated. He found that the employment 
of a principal for the Dayton Academy, which 
stood on the ground now occupied by the High 
School, was under consideration by the trustees* 
There was another applicant for the position, to 
whom it was supposed it would be given, and Mr. 
Barney was about concluding to go to some other 
place, when it was proposed that the two young- 
men should each make a statement to the trustees 
as to the method in which the school should be 
conducted. The result was that Mr. Barney was 
heartily elected. He was to have the use of the 
Academy free of rent, but was to assume all the 
financial risks of the school. He at once sent for his 
younger brother, Mr. Elijah G. Barney, who was 
teaching school in Kentucky, and for his sister, Miss 
Sarah C. Barney, who had been with him a short time 


32 


at Granville. These became his assistant teachers. 
TJp to that time only the rude, primitive methods 
of instruction had prevailed in Dayton, as in most 
places in the west. The new principal, wide- 
awake, intensely earnest and ambitious, at once 
introduced changes ; especially the analytic form 
of instruction, the study of mental arithmetic, and 
the writing of compositions. Single seats were 
put in place of the old long benches, the pupils 
were appealed to with motives of self-respect and 
personal honor, and the utmost thoroughness was 
required in the rudiments of every study. Boys 
who were reading Virgil found themselves kindly 
put back into the Latin Grammar for a time, and 
no pupil was allowed to proceed without under- 
standing the ground already traversed. His schol- 
ars stood somewhat in awe of his dignity and 
strictness, but he never failed to gain their re- 
spect, if not their affection. Such was the diffi- 
culty of escaping his observation when they were 
in mischief, that some attributed to him the power 
of seeing out of the back of his head. The secret 
of this was that he could indeed see what was 
nearly behind him by the reflection of the light 
from the sides of the dark, double spectacles 
which, on account of the weakness of his eyes, he 
was at that time compelled to wear. Following 


33 


some of his own practices at Lowville, he sub- 
scribed for horticultural journals, used these in 
reading classes, and thus awakened in the scholars 
an interest in trees and flowers. On Saturdays he 
would go the woods with the boys and bring back 
trees, which were planted around the academy, 
each boy having his own to tend and watch ; while 
to the girls were allotted flower beds, which they 
cultivated. The parents of the pupils soon ob- 
served that the Academy had become something 
more than the place of literary tasks ; it was the 
centre, rather, of the liveliest enjoyments of their 
children, and Mr. Barney was the master spirit 
who directed their thoughts at home, as well as at 
school. The school began with nine pupils, but 
each of the three teachers taught the full number 
of hours every day, and such were the amount and 
vigor of the instruction given that the reputation 
of the Academy spread, and the numbers rapidly 
increased. Mr. Elijah Barney, referring to those 
early days of the school, writes : “ I arrived on the 

Saturday of the second week of the session, having 
a glowing idea of the Academy that could afford 
profitable employment to three teachers at such 
liberal salaries as he had offered to our sister 
Sarah and myself. On Monday these were much 
dampened by meeting in the school-room only 


34 


thirteen scholars all told. At noon, going to din- 
ner, I asked my brother why he had sent for me, 
saying: The school is too small to pay the board of 
three of us. He replied cheerily: ‘Never fear, 
mv brother, -we will punch so much learning into 
the heads of the pupils we have, that all the world 
will rush in to obtain a part of it.’ At first there 
was some prejudice because we were ‘Yankees,’ 
very few of whom had then settled in Dayton. 
But each week brought accessions of pupils, until 
we all had our hands full. The term which had 
begun with nine pupils, ended with eighty-five. 
The beginning of the second term brought more 
than two hundred, and thenceforward the success 
of the school was assured.” Among his first 
pupils the names of Wilbur Conover, Robert R. 
Steele, John F. Edgar, Rufus King, David Morri- 
son, William Bomberger, Henry Steele, Emery 
0. Green, S. M. Sullivan, Frederick Snyder, Or- 
simus Osgood, George Houck, and David Houck 
have been mentioned to the writer. Judge Dan- 
iel A. Haynes had been his pupil at Sand 
Lake and Lowville. To these might be added 
many others equally honorable, including the 
names of several ladies who now preside in 
homes of intelligence and influence. It was Mr. 
Barney’s privilege to live to see around him, in 


35 


the career of many of his younger fellow-citizens, 
beneficent results of his own instructions; and 
although the old Academy is gone, it and the mas- 
ter who taught there will have a place in the 
grateful memories of many hearts forever. As an 
illustration of his firmness and kindness in disci- 
pline, the following is said to have been related by 
himself in the latter part of his life. The writer is 
unable to learn whether it occurred at Lowville, or 
at Dayton : One of the boys had been guilty of some 
outrageous conduct, and the case called for severe 
punishment. Detaining him alone (as was always 
his custom in such cases), Mr. Barney explained 
the necessity of what he was about to do, and pro- 
ceeded to inflict the penalty. But the boy was 
obstinate, and would not relent. Not wishing to 
be cruel by the prolongation of severity, the 
teacher finally said : “ I see that my whipping 

you has done you no good. It is a trial to me to 
hurt you, and I shall carry it no farther. But the 
laws of the school must be vindicated, and more 
suffering must be inflicted. So now you may take 
the rod and continue the punishment upon me.” 
It was enough. The proud heart of the refractory 
pupil melted. “ I had no trouble afterwards with 
that boy,” said Mr. Barney to the person to whom 
he related the story. 


36 


The school grew so rapidly that after the first 
year another assistant was needed ; so his sister, 
Miss Mary Gh Barney, was sent for to come from 
her home in northern Ohio, where she was living 
with her parents. Some time afterwards Miss 
Harriet Barney, also, was added to the list of in- 
structors, while their younger brother, Benjamin, 
came as a pupil. With each one of the family 
associated with him in giving instruction, he 
thoughtfully opened a business account, thus fos- 
tering their self-respect and developing their per- 
sonal character. Never were brothers and sisters 
bound together by closer ties of affection, and 
never did brothers and sisters work together as 
teachers with heartier unanimity or more manifest 
success. Their wisdom in dealing with youthful 
minds may have been inherited from their mother, 
whose parting advice to them, as one by one they 
left home to engage in teaching, is worth recording 
as a hint to all in that profession: “Remember,” 
she said, “ three things : first, never punish a 
child when you are angry ; second, never punish a 
child in the presence of others; third, never pun- 
ish a child without first trying the rod on your 
own hand.” So large a portion of the family were 
now in Dayton that after two or three years the 
parents came to make them a visit, accompanied 


37 


by their youngest daughter, who had remained 
with them. After their arrival the mother’s 
health became so feeble that it was decided she 
could not return to Auburn. So the father sold 
out his farm there, and purchased one for his 
home near Dayton. A portion of the land has 
since become known as Embury Park. The 
change in climate did not prove to be favorable to 
his health, and the infirmities of age were in- 
creased by a severe and prolonged sickness. He 
was soon afflicted, also, by the loss of his wife, 
who died in 1845. His own life was prolonged for 
fourteen years after, a part of which time lie spent 
with his youngest daughter in Iowa, but his last 
days were passed in Dayton, where his venerable 
appearance and Christian zeal are well remem- 
bered, Meeting friends in the street, he was in 
the habit of adding an inquiry after their spiritual 
condition to the usual one regarding their health, 
and his pastor, Rev. Samson Talbot — afterwards 
President of Denison University — honored him as 
an earnest helper. It was in the relations of son 
and brother that the subject of our sketch showed 
some of his most beautiful traits. His solicitude 
for his parents in their last days was in keeping 
with his affectionate treatment of them from boy- 
hood. When burdened with the cares of his 


38 


school, he would often go out to the farm and 
would put his hand to the hardest kind of work in 
order to relieve some anxiety which he saw rest- 
ing on his father’s mind, and it is remembered 
how once on a dark night he waded across the 
Miami river, that he might stand at his father’s 
bedside. To the end of his life he was generous 
and thoughtful in his attentions to his brothers 
and sisters. Two brothers and two sisters survive 
him. 

' Soon after he took the Dayton Academy he was 
married to Miss Julia Smith, who has been men- 
tioned before in this narrative as his assistant 
teacher in the academy at Lowville. She was the 
daughter of Major Dudley Smith, of Galway, New 
York. In early life she had become a follower of 
Christ, and had been obliged for the sake of her 
religious profession to meet some trials, which she 
had borne with decision and fidelity.- She first be- 
came acquainted with Mr. Barney when the latter, 
during his college vacation, was visiting among her 
friends, and their subsequent association together 
as congenial instructors had developed into a bond 
of affection. They were married at Buffalo, New 
York, Oct. 10, 1834. The vacation of the academy 
was too short to permit the bridegroom, in those 
days of slow traveling, to make a journey farther 


39 


East, and the bride could have as far as Buffalo 
the escort of her brother, who was on his way 
home to Detroit. A storm on the lake prevented 
Mr. Barney’s arrival until a day after he was ex- 
pected, and it was on Friday that the ceremony 
took place, at the house of Rev. Dr. Lord, pastor 
of the Presbyterian Church in Buffalo, the Baptist 
minister being absent from home. Owing to these 
circumstances, Mr. Barney was afterwards wont 
jocosely to remark that Friday was his lucky day, 
for on that day he had been “ married by the Lord.” 
The young couple went to Auburn, where Mr. 
Barney’s parents were then residing, and spent the 
Sunday, and then came on by stage to Dayton. At 
first they boarded at the corner of Main and 
Fourth streets, Mrs. Barney taking her.place among 
the assistant teachers of the academy, and co-op- 
erating with her husband in all his earnest work. 
Afterwards they kept house on Ludlow street, op- 
posite the Third Presbyterian Church, and then on 
Second, between Ludlow and Wilkinson, until they 
moved into the Cooper Seminary. 

Though principal of a private school, Mr. Bar- 
ney did not selfishly limit his interest as a citizen 
to it, but took a lively interest in the establishment 
of public schools in Dayton, which may be said to 
date from 1838. From an historical sketch of the 


40 


schools, prepared by Robert JS T . Steele, Esq., we 
learn that in that year “ it was provided by law 
that a special meeting might be called after twenty 
days’ notice, stating an intention to propose a 
school-house tax, at which a majority of the voters 
present, being householders, were authorized to de- 
termine by vote upon the erection of a school- 
house, and how much money should be raised for 
such a purpose. Legal notice was given, and a 
public meeting assembled in the church which 
formerly stood upon Main street, between First 
■ and Water streets. Strenuous opposition was made 
to the levy of the tax by a few citizens, but, after 
a heated discussion, the measure was carried by a 
large majority. The amount to be raised was fixed 
at $6,000, and it was resolved to build two school- 
houses — one in the eastern and one in the western 
part of the city. The opposition did not end with 
the meeting, and an injunction was applied for to 
prevent the levy of the tax. It was believed that 
it could not be proved that the law had been com- 
plied with in giving notice of the meeting. This 
had been anticipated by Mr. E. E. Barney, who 
had taken the precaution to post the notices in 
person, and, accompanied by a friend, had visited 
them from time to time to see that they were not 
removed. The injunction was not granted, and the 


41 


houses were huilt on the sites now occupied by the 
second and fourth district schools.” 

In 1839, he resigned his position as principal of 
the Dayton Academy. He had thus far had the 
building free of rent, and had succeeded in making 
his school pecuniarily profitable. He had made so 
many improvements at his own expense, and had 
devoted himself to his work so thoroughly, that he 
felt that he was entitled to enjoy all the results 
that were accruing. With this view the trustees 
did not agree, and insisted that he should now begin 
to pay rent. He had too much independence of char- 
acter to allow his own convictions of right and priv- 
ilege to be overborne. Retiring, therefore, from his 
connection with them, he opened a school first at his 
own house, and then, after a few months, at the 
corner of Jefferson and Fourth streets in the base- 
ment of what was then the Baptist Church, but 
which has since become the Jewish Synagogue. 
Many of his pupils at the academy followed 
him ; and here, also, he was successful for about two 
years, at the close of which symptoms of failing 
health warned him to seek a different occupation. 
Giving up his school, he purchased a sawmill on 
Wayne street, where he was engaged in business 
about two years and a half. It was a remarkable 
feature of his history that one so eminently skill-* 


4 


42 


ful and popular in a literary pursuit could change 
to a commercial employment with no diminution 
of either earnestness, ability or achievement. This 
was noticeable at the time of which we now speak, 
as well as at a later period in his life. It was 
currently predicted that he would lose his money 
faster than he had made it. But those who thus 
prophesied, knew very little of the man. Soon 
a different opinion began to prevail, and the re- 
mark was heard : “ That is the first school teacher 

I ever saw who knew how to do business.” He 
expended six hundred dollars on a new water- 
wheel. When this was completed, and the ma- 
chinery in good condition, he took personal charge 
of the purchase of logs and the care and sale of 
the lumber. Many times he left Dayton on horse- 
back after four o’clock in the afternoon, and rode 
to Troy or to Piqua, stopping to measure and 
accept logs on the way. After spending a few 
hours with his brother at Piqua, while his horse 
was resting and feeding, he would ride back during 
the same night to Dayton, so as to be ready for 
business at the mill in the morning. Under such 
intense labor, it is not strange that his new occu- 
pation did not establish his health. 

In 1844, he was attacked with a hemorrhage, 
"supposed at the time to be from the lungs. He 


43 


was obliged to drop his business, and, in consid- 
erable depression of spirits, consented to make a 
journey to the South. It was indeed a great trial 
to him. Such had been the drafts upon him that 
he had not yet been able to lay up much money, 
and his wife and four young children needed his 
presence. For the gratification of his family, he 
stopped a few days in Cincinnati, and had his por- 
trait painted by Mr. Charles Soule ; then he went 
by the way of the river to New Orleans. He 
seems to have had grave doubts of his recovery, 
and his letters written at that time contain not 
only descriptive scenes and incidents along the 
route, but expressions of his religious experiences 
and hopes, and touching messages of love and 
counsel to all his children. Here and there, an 
eloquent paragraph gives utterance to his medita- 
tions. We quote a single one, which may be taken 
as characteristic of the man in his loftier moods. 
“ Remember,” he says, “how noble the destiny of 
that mother who fully appreciates and discharges 
the high responsibility of her station. Who with- 
out admiration can reflect upon the character and 
conduct of a well-educated matron opening her 
mouth with wisdom, and the law of kindness on 
her lips, rearing her family and educating them to 
all that is virtuous and amiable? Did man ever 


44 


earn more worthily a monument ? When and 
where did he live, and what was his name ? The 
mother of the prophet Samuel, Cornelia of Rome, 
whose children were her jewels, the mother of Dod- 
dridge and the mother of Washington, of a meek and 
lowly spirit never aspiring to fame, have secured 
monuments more enduring than brazen columns. 
Faithful mothers will rise to immortal honors 
when the names of millions called heroes, and 
worshiped as gods, shall be consigned to everlast- 
ing shame. The last conflagration, which will melt 
down the lofty pillars of Trajan and Napoleon, will 
only exhibit in yet more glorious light the virtues 
of their untiring love and the trophies of their 
anxieties and toils. Let them be cheered with the 
thought that they produce impressions that naught 
on earth can efface, and stamp on the cradle what 
will exist beyond the grave, and be legible in 
eternity.” 

He had intended to cross the Gulf of Mexico, 
but physicians in New Orleans dissuaded him from 
a sea voyage, and he returned, after a short time, 
to Dciyton. It was evident that he had been bene- 
fited by the trip. Another, taken not long after, in 
company with his wife to the East, where they spent 
some weeks in visiting old scenes, confirmed the 
hopes of many friends for his restoration to health; 


45 


and, though he was ever afterwards troubled with 
a strange and % persistent cough, his life was pro- 
longed for thirty-six years, during which much of 
his strongest and best work was accomplished. 

It was in 1844 that several of the citizens of 
Dayton subscribed money for the establishment 
of a school for the thorough education of their 
daughters. The estate of Mr. Daniel C. Cooper, 
the early proprietor of Dayton, gave the land for 
the purpose on First street, between Wilkinson and 
Perry. The substantial building, which is still 
used for a similar purpose, was then erected, and 
the institution became known as the Cooper Semi- 
nary. The first trustees were Samuel Forrer, 
Edward W. Davies, Robert C. Schenck, J. D. Phil- 
lips, Robert W. Steele, and Richard Green. Some 
of those most interested in the project had been 
Mr. Barney’s pupils in the old academy, and when 
the question arose who should be the principal of 
the new seminary, their minds at once turned to 
him, and he was urged to accept the appointment. 
His heart was too much enlisted in the work of 
education for him to refuse, so he began at once to 
engagehis assistants, and the new building was fitted 
up under his direction. He interested citizens also 
to contribute money for the purchase of a library 
for The school, with maps, charts, and “full sets 


46 


of apparatus for illustration in the several 
sciences,” including a nine-inch reflecting telescope. 
He carried into the enterprise all the enthusiasm 
and thoroughness which had before characterized 
him as a teacher. He was determined to make 
the seminary one of the highest character, and 
how well he succeeded from the outset is evi- 
denced by the number of recorded pupils, the tes- 
timony of examining committees, and the wide- 
spread rejnitation of the institution. He became 
known as one of the most accomplished educators 
in the West. It is true that in Dayton he had little 
competition to contend with in the work of higher 
education. The public schools had not been begun 
till 1838, the old academy had lost its vitality, and 
the high school was not started till 1850. But 
every witness shows that his success was owing- 
far more to the strength of his instructions and 
management than to the clearness of the field. 
Before undertaking the work, he had assured him- 
self of the important co-operation of his brother- 
in-law, Mr. A. E. Stevens, who had been the prin- 
cipal of the academy at Painesville, Ohio, and of 
Mrs. Stevens, who, as Miss Harriet Barney, had 
formerly been an efficient teacher in the Dayton 
Academy. Mr. Stevens instructed classes in the 
higher Latin and mathematics, and Mrs. Stevens 


47 


taught the arithmetic, algebra and botany. To 
these might be added the names of fifteen or 
eighteen teachers, who for longer or shorter periods 
during the time that he was principal were asso- 
ciated with him as assistants. Those who taught 
more than a single year were Miss Caroline A. 
Cathcart, Miss Sarah J. Comstock, Miss Eliza S. 
Shaw, Mr. James Turpin, Miss Eleanor Odlin and 
Miss Anna E. Lapham. 

The school opened in September, 1845. The 
catalogue shows for that year the names of one 
hundred and seventy-four young ladies as pupils. 
Most of these were residents of Dayton, but sev- 
eral were from other places. Of the latter, four- 
teen the first quarter became members of the 
family of the principal, who resided within the 
building. Afterwards, the boarders were fully 
three times as many. This imposed a great care 
upon Mrs. Barney, who took the entire charge of 
the housekeeping; and it should be added that her 
great energy and watchfulness in this department 
contributed largely to the popularity and success 
of the institution. The young ladies were made 
to feel at home under the seminary roof, and every 
thing reasonable and kind was done for their 
happiness. The regular curriculum extended over 
four years, and embraced a careful selection of 


48 


studies. “We believe/’ says the circular for 1846, 
probably prepared by Mr. Barney himself, “that 
a pupil should not leave a study, not only till the 
subject be understood, but till the further step be 
attained of being able to explain it with clearness 
and facility. To aid in accomplishing this, we fix 
in the mind of each pupil the certain expectation 
of a severe critical and thorough examination. 
The only way to fix this is to have it actually 
accomplished. In order to do this most effectually, 
instead of a general examination, at the close of the 
term, whenever any class has gone carefully through 
with a study and thoroughly reviewed it, such of 
them as we think are prepared to sustain a rigid 
examination are subjected to that test before a 
Committee appointed by the Trustees for that pur- 
pose. Not less than half a day, and frequently a 
whole day or more is occupied in the examination. 
Those who are found to be sufficiently familiar 
with the study receive a certificate signed by the 
Committee.” Ten such certificates are printed 
with the circular from which we quote. That of 
the following year says: “Those who dislike to 
study or are unwilling to comply cheerfully with 
all school regulations, or who go to school merely 
because they are sent, will do well to seek some 
other place in which to idle their time away. We 


49 


wish only such to attend as are desirous to make 
rapid improvement and determined to apply them- 
selves closely to study.” This was reiterated from 
year to year and was the spirit which guided all 
his administration. Many are living who are 
thankful to him for this insistence upon thorough- 
ness in all that was attempted. Whoever will 
take the pains to read over the long lists of pupils 
in those days, will be impressed by the large 
part he took in molding the characters of promi- 
nent families in Dayton. Many had occasion to 
say what one is reported to have declared: “Mr. 
Barney, I sent my daughter to you to learn litera- 
ture and science, and you have also instilled into 
her mind habits of business accuracy and conscien- 
tiousness.” Ladies educated by him are scattered 
throughout our country, and in foreign lands some 
are carrying out his instructions in earnest lives. 

As the five years for which he took the Seminary 
drew to a close, his mind began to turn again to- 
wards business. Mr. Ebenezer Thresher, who, 
coming to Dayton as an invalid, purchased the saw 
mill of Mr. Barney in the fall of 1845, and had 
since regained his health, proposed the formation 
of a copartnership for carrying on a manufacturing 
business, upon land which Mr. Thresher had pur- 
chased of the Cooper estate on the north-eastern 


50 


border of the city. After deliberation Mr. Barney 
acceded to the proposition. They were not certain 
at first what they would manufacture, but after Mr. 
Thresher had made a visit of investigation to the 
East, it was decided to make railroad cars the chief 
product of their industry. There were then no 
railroads finished to Dayton, but one connecting 
the city with Springfield was in process of grading, 
and there was reason to believe that the future 
demand for cars would warrant the building of a 
factory. The first building was erected at the be- 
ginning of 1850, Mr. Thresher giving his personal 
attention to the business and making first agricul- 
tural implements and afterwards railroad cars. 
The first car built was shipped to Lafayette, Ind. 
by way of canals and the Ohio river. Mr. Barney 
was a partner from the outset, but it was agreed 
that at first he should be only a silent one, as the 
Seminary had a claim to the whole of his attention. 
When the five years of his agreement with the 
trustees had expired they were anxious that he 
should continue longer, and he did so for one year, 
during which also he supervised the building of a 
home for himself opposite to the Seminary grounds. 
When the house was completed he moved into it, 
and it continued to be his residence until his death. 
It was pleasant for him thus to remain near to the 


51 


scene of his last labors as a teacher, and in the 
subsequent history of the Seminary he always felt 
an interest. To him and his household it was con- 
nected with but one sad association. There, in 
1848, his little daughter, Maria Theresa, six years 
of age, had died, the only one of his immediate 
family who preceded him to the other world. 

At the time of his giving up the Seminary, in 
1851, his silent partnership with Mr. Thresher in 
the manufacturing business became an active one. 
Their capital at the outset was ten thousand dollars, 
of which they had each contributed one-half. Both 
were men who had given their attention chiefly to 
professional life, one as a minister and educational 
agent, the other as a teacher, and some might have 
prophesied that they would not succeed in manu- 
facturing, but such were their strict attention to 
business and prudent management that their work 
grew and prospered. Their cars became known 
for the excellence of their material and workman- 
ship. In 1854, Mr. Thresher, who with Mr. Bar- 
ney’s help had founded the factory, was obliged, by 
failing health, to sell out his interest to Mr. Caleb 
Parker, who had come from Massachusetts, and 
whose habits of close application, prudence, and 
carefulness of details, made him a valued associate 
in the business. For ten years the factory was 


52 


carried on under the firm name of Barney, Parker 
& Co. During this period their facilities were in- 
creased, and their sales were widely extended over 
the North-west, West, and South. It was inevita- 
ble that the financial crisis of 1857, which brought 
disaster to many strong houses, should bring em- 
barrassments to a firm engaged in manufacturing 
railroad cars. But strict integrity and good man- 
agement soon brought them out of their trials and 
made them stronger than before. In 1864, Mr. 
Parker disposed of his interest to Mr. Preserved 
Smith, who also proved to be a most congenial 
partner. For three years, the firm was then known 
as Barney, Smith & Co. ; but in 1867 they took out 
articles of incorporation under the laws of Ohio 
assuming the name of “The Barney and Smith 
Manufacturing Company, of Dayton, Ohio,” since 
which time they have been steadily enlarging their 
business, erecting new and more commodious brick 
buildings and increasing their apparatus by greatly 
improved machinery. The visitor to the works, 
as they are at the present time, can not fail 
to be impressed by their extent and the amount 
of pains-taking labor which is there employed. 
Every kind of car, from the common platform to 
the most luxurious drawing room or sleeper, is 
turned out by skillful workmen, and the rapidity 


53 


with which large contracts can he filled has often 
occasioned surprise. The blacksmith shop, with its 
many forges; the large machine shop, with its com- 
plicated and beautiful appliances for working iron 
economically; the foundry, that can turn out one 
hundred and forty wheels a day; the two buildings 
of fine machinery for cabinet work ; the separate 
shops for putting together the trucks, the freight 
cars, the passenger cars, or for painting them — all 
filled with work in different stages of progress, and 
populous with men laboring together with exact 
system and precision — form a little world of in- 
dustry and of wonderful interest to a thoughtful 
mind. Two large engines furnish the motive 
power, wire ropes transmitting it to the various 
buildings. Such are the facilities for drying and 
working lumber that freight cars have been deliv- 
ered, ready for use, in a few weeks only after the 
wood composing them was growing in the forest ; 
but to keep available material for every kind of 
work, the Company has an extensive yard, with a 
railroad through the center, wherein is piled lum- 
ber for two hundred and fifty passenger cars and 
one thousand freight cars — the usual stock carried 
amounting to nine million feet. The factory, with 
its appurtenances, covers twenty-eight acres of 
ground, and the capital stock now amounts to 


5 4 


seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. At Mr. 
Barney’s death the number of employes was over a 
thousand, and .large contracts promised them con- 
tinued occupation. To the prosperity of the city of 
Dayton so large a manufacturing establishment has 
been an important aid, and many hundred families 
have looked to it as the source of their living. It is 
safe to say, that throughout the country, the name 
of the firm has become known as associated with 
strict integrity, thoroughness and enterprise. 

This description of the Car Works introduces us 
to^Mr. Barney’s characteristics as a business man. 
Of course, he was often indebted to the prudent 
counsel of the partners with whom it was his privi- 
lege to be connected, and to the faithful co-operation 
of experienced men who were intrusted with the 
different departments. But for many years he was 
at the head of the establishment, and to his per- 
sonal traits its growth and reputation were largely 
owing. Except when he was traveling for the 
business — and a large portion of his time was thus 
occupied, sleeping cars furnishing him his rest as 
he traversed wide sections of country — he was wont 
to be at the factory from early morning till the 
whistle sounded at night. He was conscientious, 
laborious, and watchful in the extreme. He not 
only superintended subordinates but seemed to 


keep his eye with wonderful particularity on the 
innumerable details of the work. His presence 
and impress were everywhere. In the factory his 
was the living spirit among the wheels. He had 
the decision, the power, the control of an imperial 
commander. Each employe must come promptly 
up to the terms of his engagement and fulfill it; 
for the last hour of his day’s work was the com- 
pany’s profit, the other hours were necessary to 
earn his wages. Any form of ill behavior was rep- 
rimanded no matter upon whom the censure might 
fall. H o work must be turned out that was not 
the very best. Employes at first, like some other 
people, took his strongly marked visage, his strict- 
ness, his positive judgments and peremptory ans- 
wers, for sternness. Sometimes his replies to those 
who sought his counsel would be brief, and he 
would seem to be absorbed in something else. He 
would even at times disregard those little courte- 
sies which make men seem approachable. But if 
the matter was really one that required his help, 
the applicant would find in a day or two that Mr. 
Barney had .thought it all over and had some plan 
to suggest or some relief to offer. He threw men 
upon their own resources to develop them, and 
then reached out his hand to keep them from fall- 
ing. They who came to know him well found out 


56 


that no one could have a kinder heart or he more 
ready to help those in trouble. If any worthy 
employe became overwhelmed with misfortunes, 
his sympathies and assistance were generously 
given. His interest for the true welfare of the 
men is well illustrated by the plan he devised to 
encourage them in saving up a portion of their 
earnings. A circular, showing by statistics and 
carefully collected incidents the great results that 
may accrue from small savings, is put into the 
hands of each employe, and the Company agrees 
to receive from him deposits on pay-days in sums 
not less than one dollar. Upon these deposits in- 
terest is allowed at six per cent, which is credited 
annually and draws interest afterwards. Each 
depositor is furnished with a book similar to those 
used by savings banks. In accordance with this 
arrangement, considerable sums have accumulated 
in the hands of the Company to the credit of 
certain workmen, and money that might otherwise 
have been squandered has been saved to wise 
purposes. By such methods he secured the attach- 
ment of good and thoughtful mechanics and made 
them satisfied with their positions. He had a re- 
markably clear and precise mind, and could state 
a perplexing question in business so as to unravel 
it. This was not only of great advantage to him 


57 


and to the company, but it won for him compli- 
ments from railroad managers and others with 
whom he dealt. He had the gratification of seeing 
his sons associated with him in the same business. 
The eldest, Eugene J. Barney, has been for some 
time the superintendent and vice-president of the 
factory. Edward E. Barney has been the assist- 
ant superintendent. Col. James D. Platt, Mr. 
Barney’s son-in-law, is the treasurer; and Albert 
C. Barney is a director. Mr. A. E. Stevens, who 
was associated with him when he was principal of 
the Cooper Seminary, has also been with him in 
the factory almost from the first. Into the hands 
of these and others he was able largely to consign 
the care of the business when ill health began to 
encroach upon his strength. Long may his exam- 
ple and influence continue to inspire the whole 
establishment ! 

In addition to the Car Works, Mr. Barney was 
interested in several business enterprises. He was 
vice-president and a valued director of the Second 
National Bank of Dayton. He was, also, a director 
of the Wisconsin Central railroad. He was presi- 
dent of the Cooper Hydraulic Company, of Dayton. 
He was never an aspirant for political office, but 
was interested in everything that pertained to the 
welfare of his city or country. In this connection, 
5 


58 


the following correspondence from the Dayton Jour- 
nal, published soon after his decease, may be of 
interest : 

To the Editor of the Journal. 

The following letter from the late E. E. Barney, 
as will be observed, is in reference to a communi- 
cation I had the honor to address to you on the 
27th of October last. Although brief in words, 
and mainly of personal significance, it is yet preg- 
nant with sound, wholesome, and patriotic utter- 
ances. As an incident in the life of one of the 
most prominent, enterprising, and successful of our 
citizens, it has occurred to me that the publication 
of the sentiments contained in the letter would not 
only be of interest to the public, but especially so 
to the many personal friends of the deceased. 

Very respectfully, 

D. Gr. FITCH. 

Dayton, 0., October 28, 1880. 

Col 1). a. Fitch: 

Dear Sir: — I read with much interest your let- 
ter in yesterday’s Journal— the more so, as I cast 
my first vote for Jackson in 1828, though, for what 
seemed to me to be good and sufficient reasons, I 
subsequently changed my views. 

I sympathize most heartily with you in surprise 
and regret that the democratic party should, for a 
moment, give the least encouragement to the green- 
back notions. Time was when the phrase, “time- 


59 


honored principles of the Democracy/’ was not all 
a “glittering generality.” Gold and silver were 
the only measures of value. They, and they only, 
were money. ^Bank bills, as long as they could be 
exchanged at will, at par, for gold and silver, were 
as good and more convenient, but they were the 
representatives of and not money. 

W ith you, I deem the present banking system 
incomparably the best we have ever had. As 
proof, for the last sixteen years $350,000,000 of 
national bank currency have been held in circula- 
tion by every man, woman and child throughout 
the length and breadth of the land ; and the least 
fraction of the first dollar has yet to be lost by any 
one. The perfection, preservation, and perpetua- 
tion of such a system may well redound to the 
credit of any party. 

So long as the republican party shall remain 
“the party of progress and safety,” I shall be 
pleased to unite with you in its support. 

Yery respectfully, 

E. E. BARNEY. 

His thoughtful public spirit and disposition to 
propose improvements were not limited to mat- 
ters which he himself might live to see fulfilled. 
This is well illustrated by his wide-spread influ- 
ence for the cultivation of the catalpa tree for 
timber. A few years before his death he became 
greatly interested in gathering testimony as to the 




60 


rapidity of its growth and its remarkable durabil- 
ity. The publication of the facts he learned led to 
to still further information. Persons in different 
parts of the country wrote to him items within 
their knowledge, and some forwarded to him posts 
of catalpa, which, according to reliable witnesses, 
had been in the ground for many years, and still 
were in good condition. He wrote a series of arti- 
cles to The Railway Age, and also articles toother 
papers, advocating the cultivation of this tree by 
railroad companies along their lines, and by others, 
especially for railroad ties. He subjected the wood 
to great pressure, and published the degree of its 
resistance as compared to other woods of well-known 
utility. He pursued, also, investigations as to the 
best method of planting, and took measures to 
secure the preservation of seed, and its sale to a 
large number of cultivators in different parts of the 
country. He was greatly encouraged and aided in 
this matter by Hr. John A. Warder, President of 
the Ohio Horticultural Society and of the Ameri- 
can Forestry Association ; by Prof. C. S. Sargent, 
Director of the Botanic Garden and Arnold Arbor- 
etum, of Harvard University; by Robert Douglas, 
of Waukegan, Illinois, and by many others. The 
American Agriculturist, The Monthly Gardener 
and Horticulturist, The Cultivator and Country 


61 


Gentleman, The Prairie Farmer, The Scientific 
American, The National Car Builder, The Ohio 
Farmer, and The New York Tribune, besides The 
Railway Age, published articles commending the 
matter to public attention. He put together, in a 
pamphlet, the facts collected, and through the no- 
tices made of this pamphlet and the articles on 
catalpa published in periodicals, attention was 
awakened on this subject to such an extent that he 
received letters of inquiry from every State and 
Territory in the Union, amounting, in the aggre- 
gate, to thousands; also, from England, South 
Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. He soon 
after published another pamphlet giving additional 
information, and the result of his agitation of the 
subject has been that millions of catalpa seeds 
have been carefully planted and large nurseries 
of the young trees are now watched with interest 
by practical and far-seeing men. Since his death, 
inquiries have continued to pour in for the pamph- 
lets and information regarding the purchase of 
seed. If he who makes two blades of grass to 
grow where before there was only one, is worthy of 
special commendation, surely Mr. Barney’s valu- 
able contributions to economical arboriculture 
should not pass unrecorded. 

In various ways he endeavored to benefit the 


62 


world in which he lived, and he never sought honor 
and praise from his fellow men. There were not 
wanting, however, those disposed to recognize his at- 
tainments. With reference to his- work as a promi- 
nent educator for several years, and his life-long 
patronage of Christian learning, Denison Univer- 
sity, in 1879, conferred upon him the honorary 
degree of Doctor of Laws. 

In his relations to others he was generally a man 
of few words. The numerous cares which he was 
called to bear in early youth, as well as through all 
his life, seem to have given to him an air of serious 
thoughtfulness, which could sometimes be broken 
only by bold playfulness on the part of those who 
were intimate with him. He would become so 
absorbed in one train of thought that he would 
seem unconscious of everything about him. At 
such times he would pass friends on the street 
without recognizing them, and he laughingly re- 
lated how, on one such occasion, he was unable to 
tell his own name when he was suddenly asked to 
give it. But at times, among business friends, and 
especially in genial society, his naturally social 
spirit would assert itself, and his words would then 
pour out in warm pictures of his imagination or in 
enthusiastic exhortations which were like the riv- 
ers that flow down from the melting snows in 


63 


Spring. Those who were with him at such times, 
learned to love him as a great and noble friend. 
The same alternations of taciturnity and affection- 
ate freedom characterized his intercourse with his 
own family. He never left them in doubt of the 
principles which he held, of his true affection for 
them, or of the course in life which he wished them 
to take ; hut some may think that it would have 
been better for himself, that it would often have 
eased the burden of his anxieties, if he had been 
more regularly communicative of what was pass- 
ing in his mind. He was not accustomed to 
unbosom the processes of his thinking until his 
conclusions had been reached ; but who could com- 
pdain of this, since he made up for those periods of 
reserve by such positive demonstrations. 

Turn we now to another aspect of Mr. Barney’s 
life. No sketch of his character could be complete 
which did not emphasize the religious element that 
entered into it. From the beginning to the end of 
his career this lay at the foundation of his principles. 
We have already spoken of his early conversion 
and of his profession of faith in Christ. When he 
came to the city of Dayton, in 1834, he found the 
Baptist Church a feeble little company of about a 
dozen members. They had no house of worship, 
and were unable to support a pastor, A young 


64 


man just through with his own struggle for an ed- 
ucation, and with brothers arid sisters looking to 
him for help, assuming financial risk in the estab- 
lishment of a school that solicited public patron- 
age — there seemed to be every worldly reason why 
he should comply with kind invitations given him 
to identify himself with some one of the older and 
influential congregations. But he was a Baptist, 
as he was everything else he professed to be, from 
the force of personal conviction ; and with the 
little feeble band he at once cast in his lot. Of 
course, he became a leader among them. Arrange- 
ments were made to hold prayer meetings in one 
of the unoccupied rooms of the academy. There 
were, at first, not more than five or six persons in 
attendance, but the number so increased that 
arrangements were made to have preaching once 
a month, and at the end of the year a plan was 
adopted for preaching every Sabbath. A rented 
church was used for about two years, when a house 
of worship was erected at the corner of Jefferson 
and Fourth streets. 

In the midst of his duties, as principal of the old 
Dayton Academy, he found opportunities to co-op- 
erate with his pastor, and in a revival which 
occurred during the pastorate of Rev. Martin E. 
Cook, his positive influence was helpful to the 


65 


conversion of several of his pupils. Firm in his 
convictions of truth, consistent in his daily con- 
versation, and earnest, especially at times, in his 
devotion, he was known and felt, in all the rela- 
tions of his life, as a Christian man. In his fam- 
ily the altar of prayer was not neglected. In his 
business his religion was not forgotten. His cor- 
respondence contains many expressions of his 
spiritual experience and his sense of obligation to 
Christ as his Lord and Savior. In every calling of 
a pastor, in every enterprise of building or improv- 
ing houses of worship for the Baptists in Dayton, 
at every season of special interest or advancement 
in the cause, he was found in the front rank of 
workers. For many years he was superintendent 
of the Sunday-school ; from 1842 he was one 
of the deacons of the church, and for a long time 
the senior officer. His place in his pew, twice on 
the Sabbath, was never vacant, except in cases of 
sickness or absence from home ; and, until extreme 
feebleness prevented, he was habitually at the 
prayer meeting. He was at church within three or 
four weeks before his death, when the infirmities 
of his disease rendered it extremely difficult for 
him to come up the stairs. The hospitalities of his 
home were ever open to ministers of the gospel 
and others who represented different departments 
6 


66 


of Christian work. Of the weekly religious papers 
he was an interested reader; and, though he was 
especially attached to his own denomination, his 
catholic sympathies reached out towards every great 
movement of educational or religious reform. He 
was one upon whose support in good movements 
his pastors could always rely. Now, by some con- 
siderate suggestion, and then, by some thoughtful 
gift, he would delicately express his kindness to 
them. The present pastor, looking back to the 
time, nearly fourteen years ago, when he spent 
under Mr. Barney’s roof his first night in Dayton, 
and recalling many tokens of his sympathy and 
affection since, may be permitted here to express 
his own feeling of personal bereavement in the loss 
of such a paternal counselor, inspiring helper, and 
beloved friend. Next to his family, and the cause 
of religion at large, the church was first in his 
affections. As he had been himself a large part 
of its history, he delighted in all its fellowship and 
work, and prayed for its perpetual usefulness. In 
his personal religious meditations, he delighted in 
selecting and dwelling upon special passages of the 
Word of God ; when he was with his brethren in the 
church he would often speak of such passages with 
enthusiasm. From the small band with whom he 
identified himself on his first arrival in Dayton, 


67 


he was permitted to witness the growth of three 
congregations of the Baptist faith exerting a wide 
influence; and one of his later benefactions was the 
subscription of a large sum for the building of a 
new house of worship in the center of the city. 

Beginning to give money liberally out of his pov- 
erty when he was a young man, he continued to 
do so, in ever increasing sums, as he was prospered, 
even to the last. Not only were the First Church 
and the other Baptist churches in Dayton largely 
built up, in their outward prosjoerity, by his pecuni- 
ary help, but he gave by hundreds and thousands 
to missionary work in the United States and in for- 
eign lands. No person presenting a real good cause 
ever found in him an uninterested listener, and few 
such were obliged to leave him without generous 
subscriptions. He would not give recklessly or 
from mere sentiment. It was a matter of principle 
with him. Unlike most men, he laid his plans to 
give and to give so that his giving might induce 
others to be liberal also. 

About the time when he was beginning to attain 
large success in his business, he remarked, in sub- 
stance, to a friend: “ Some Christian men are pros- 
pered and do not increase their benevolence in the 
same proportion. It is very hard for a man to do 
that. It goes against human nature. But I want 


68 


to guard against such narrowness, and to have 
some large amount of stock in good things.” On 
one occasion he agreed to give the second half of a 
sum that was needed. The applicant went away 
and tried to raise the first half, but, disappointed 
in his efforts, came back to see what Mr. Barney 
would do. “You have not fulfilled the condition,” 
he said, in apparent sternness, “I am, therefore, 
under no obligation.” Then, taking out a sum of 
money sufficient to make up the first half of the 
amount, he said : “ There, take that. JNTow you have 
made up the first half; and I am obligated to put 
down my name for the rest ” — which he proceeded to 
do. Similar instances could be recalled by many. 
The building of new houses of worship, in differ- 
ent localities, was one of the many forms into 
which his gifts flowed. In the city of Toledo, 
where his son-in-law, Rev. E. F. Platt, of blessed 
memory, had laid, under God, the foundations of 
the Baptist cause, he made several generous dona- 
tions. Says his friend, Mr. William Baker, of that 
city: “ He was one of the foster-fathers of our First 
Baptist Church, and, if we are not mistaken, his 
prompt and liberal subscription appears on the 
original roll of donors to the erection of the church 
in 1853. He was always its warm friend and wise 
adviser; and his love and sympathy for it were 


69 


always cherished and reciprocated. It is to his 
timely and well directed sympathies, and material 
aid also, that the East Toledo and Oliver Street 
churches are indebted, in a large degree, for their 
establishment and support, in their days of weak- 
ness. Surely, in Toledo, his name and deeds will 
long be held in grateful remembrance.” And so, 
we may add, they will be held, for the same reason, 
in many places in Ohio and other States. He was 
the largest giver to Denison University, where 
more than $60,000 were bestowed by him during 
his life ; jDortions of this sum being for the endow- 
ment of professorships bearing the names of father 
and daughter deceased before him. An earnest 
member of the board of trustees of that institu- 
tion, he endeavored, not without success, to enlist 
many others in its further endowment. A year or 
two before his death he gave the largest part of 
what was then needed to clear away a troublesome 
debt. As a result of his Will, in connection with 
a generous spirit shown by his heirs, the University 
becomes the trustee of $5,000, as a permanent 
fund for the relief of poor students, while other 
great causes of benevolence are similarly remem- 
bered. Some of these gifts establish funds to bear 
the names of his parents. Thus, even to the last, 
would he honor them; and, by such repeated 


70 


expressions of filial remembrance and love, he hon- 
ored himself. He was anxious that, like himself 
when a young man, even those in moderate circum- 
stances should form the habit of giving to the cause 
of Christ, but he was always ready to multiply his 
own amounts in proportion. In this respect, Mr. 
Barney will be widely missed. His manifold be- 
nevolence sounded no trumpet before it, but he 
could say with Job: “When the ear heard me, it 
blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave wit- 
ness to me ; because I delivered the poor that cried, 
and the fatherless, and him that had none to help 
him. The blessings of him that was ready to 
perish came upon me, and I caused the widow’s 
heart to sing for joy.” 

For it was not only in great sums that he was be- 
nevolent. Some who have large means find it easy 
to excuse themselves from giving time and thought 
to charity on the ground that they make gifts of 
money. During all the period when health per- 
mitted, Mr. Barney was willing to take his part in 
the counsels of his denomination in the State, and 
in private life he was sometimes surprisingly atten- 
tive to little acts of kindness. For example, be- 
sides subscribing for several copies of religious 
papers, to be sent to other persons by the publishers, 
he remembered to take his own copies, every week, 


71 


after lie had read them, to certain individuals whom 
he hoped thereby to benefit, and, if he was about 
to be absent from home, he would charge his fam- 
ily not to forget to send them. Often he would 
single out some boy or young man to be the private 
recipient of an encouraging interview. How many 
such interviews can be remembered! When he 
wanted to give men unwelcome advice he studied 
how to pave the way for it by winning words, and 
the sagacity of his counsels has been influential in 
many a life that had no claim upon him. 

But our narrative must hasten to its conclusion. 
Throughout his business career Mr. Barney had to 
contend with disease, of which his distressing cough, 
already referred to, was the symptom. For it he 
consulted many physicians, at different times, and 
submitted to different kinds of treatment, some of 
them very severe; but there was no agreement of 
medical opinions regarding his case, and only tem- 
porary relief was obtained by him. For years his 
physical infirmities seemed to be arrested in their 
progress. Notwithstanding his cough, he appeared 
robust and vigorous. But, as his age increased, he 
found that it was wearing upon him, and, by de- 
grees, he was obliged to relinquish much of his 
activity. For a year before his death new and 
alarming symptoms appeared. His breathing 


72 


became very short, so that it was with difficulty 
that he could walk from the house to the church, 
move about among the shops of the Car Works, or 
even get into his buggy unassisted. Still, he per- 
severed in going to his office every day, and would 
even take long journeys in the cars to prosecute 
business, when the slightest physical exertion 
would render it necessary for him to rest in silence 
till he could gain his breath. Conversing with inti- 
mate friends he expressed fears of the worst, and, 
though they tried to encourage him, they were 
obliged, at heart, to sympathize with his apprehen- 
sions. He consented to be confined to his house 
only two or three weeks before his death, when 
extreme feebleness and sudden attacks of faintness 
rendered it impossible for him to put forth any 
effort. Medical examination showed that the ac- 
tion of the heart had become seriously affected, 
and that the vital powers were hopelessly prolong- 
ing their struggles against complicated disorders. 
He was not able to converse much with visitors, 
but seemed cheerful and anxious to avoid causing 
trouble to any one. At one time, quotations from 
the poets came from his lips. He even indulged 
in pleasantries. To his pastor he spoke of the 
comfort he had found in meditating upon certain 
passages of God’s Word. The voice of prayer was 


73 


also a welcome sound in his sick room. Providen- 
tially his children were all within easy reach, most 
of them living in or near the same city, and their 
frequent calls, with those of his grandchildren, 
helped to comfort and cheer him. The holidays 
were approaching, and it was, perhaps, with a pre- 
monition that he would not live to see his loved 
ones enjoy them, that he gave to them beforehand 
his Christmas presents. A few days before his 
death he telephoned to his sons, at their residences, 
to turn to the seventh verse of the twenty-first 
chapter of Revelation, and to read it carefully. 
“He that over cometh shall inherit all things , and I 
ivill he his God and he shall he my son” It was, 
he said, a wonderful promise. He felt that none 
could be greater. It brought to his mind the con- 
flict of the Christian life, the good fight of faith, 
the resistance to all temptations to selfishness and 
worldliness, the triumph over difficulties in the 
endeavor to glorify God and to benefit one’s fellow 
men. He had known what it was to contend with 
great obstacles in temporal matters, but he knew 
also how much it required to resist the forces of 
moral evil and to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 
And these words, 11 he that overcometh ,” also ex- 
pressed the hope he clung to. He delighted to 
speak of ‘that armor of God — that shield of faith, 
7 


74 


and helmet of hope, and sword of the Spirit, which 
is the Word of God— that may enable one to stand 
in the evil day, and having done all to stand' A 
short time before his departure he repeated that 
passage with unwonted clearness of voice as he 
emphasized the final words. “He that overcometh 
shall inherit all things .” Perhaps he connected with 
this promise, which was so precious to him, the 
words of the apostle Paul: “All things are yours; 
whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas (all God’s 
ministers), or the world, or life, or death, or things 
present, or things to come ; all are yours ; and ye 
are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.” Doubtless, also, 
he pondered the words, which in the Revelation 
precede those which he referred to by telephone : 
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their 
e} T es; and there shall be no more death, neither 
sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more 
pain: for the former things are passed away.” 
Thus his heart, like that of a faithful soldier, as he 
neared the end of his conflict, leaped forward to 
grasp his crown. And that assurance: “/ will he 
his God , avid he shall he my son ,” with which the 
passage upon which he dwelt closes — it seemed to 
him, he said, to put the fitting climax to it all. 
“ 0, how wonderful to be numbered among the sons 
of God! ” He felt that this must be the summit of 


75 


human privilege. As his heart turned with solici- 
tude to those he loved, he desired nothing so much 
for them all as that they might, by divine grace, 
be victors over all the assaults and allurements of 
this world, and heirs forever with him of that 
blessed home in heaven. Such were the desires 
and consolations which occupied his mind as his 
life drew to its close. Nor were the da}^s of final 
suffering prolonged. It was in the afternoon of 
Friday, December 17th, 1880, that the physician 
was summoned, in haste, at the recurrence of 
alarming symptoms, and arrived in time to assist 
him to his bed. The last moments had come. 
Ere wife and children could fully realize the solem- 
nity of the scene, the spirit of the husband and 
father had left the earthly house of its tabernacle 
to have a building with God, a house not made 
with hands, eternal in the heavens. 

The funeral services took place on the afternoon 
of Monday, December 20th. They were arranged, 
as much as possible, in accordance with the unos- 
tentatious habits of the deceased. After a brief 
service at the house, the body was taken to the 
First Baptist church, where a large congregation 
were assembled. It was an interesting scene; all 
classes in the community united to pay respect to 
his memory. In addition to members of the church, 


76 


his associates in business and a large number of old 
pupils and fellow-citizens, who had esteemed him 
highly, the employes of the car works, of whom there 
are over a thousand, were represented by a large 
part of their number, who had marched in a body 
to the church anxious to give this token of their 
regard for their employer and friend. Among the 
pall-bearers, the church was represented by Charles 
H. Crawford and E. M. Thresher; his former 
pupils, by Robert M. Steele and Rufus King; and 
his neighbors and business associates, by William 
Ayers and George W. Shaw. In addition to the 
appropriate floral emblems around the pulpit and 
bier, thoughtful ones had draped the family pew in 
mourning, and at its entrance a broken shaft of 
flowers marked his customary seat. In the services 
the pastor, Rev. H. F. Colby, was assisted by Rev. 
J. H. Parks, and Rev. H. H. Bawden, pastors of 
the other Baptist congregations of the city, and by 
Rev. Alfred Owen, D. D., president of Denison 
University. The sermon was an earnest and affec- 
tionate tribute to the deceased, connected with the 
passage of Scripture to which allusion has already 
been made and setting forth in simple words 
some of the most instructive incidents and charac- 
teristics of his life. Close and reverent attention 


77 

was given by all. The choir sang Mrs. Barbauld’s 
beautiful hymn: 

“ How blest the righteous when he dies.” 

And then the relatives and most intimate friends 
slowly followed the precious dust to its resting- 
place in Woodland Cemetery. 

From business circles, from councils of benevo- 
lence, from the Church of Christ on earth we now 
miss him. Alas, who shall describe how sadly he 
is missed from his own home ! We are all afflicted, 
but who shall measure the grief of her, who, for 
so many years, has been nearest his heart, and the 
loss sustained by his children and his children’s 
children ! It is a great thing to have walked so far 
on in life in company with such a husband. It is 
a precious legacy, a grand inspiration, to have had 
the training and example of such a father. May 
the grace of that God in whom he trusted, and 
whom he tried so nobly to serve, comfort where 
human comfort fails, and bind up the broken hearts 
that mere words of man can not heal! 


78 


TRIBUTES. 


TRIBUTE FROM THE DIRECTORS OF THE 
SECOND NATIONAL BANK. 

At a special meeting of the Board of Directors 
of the Second National Bank of Dayton, the 
following resolutions were adopted: 

Resolved, That in the death of E. E. Barney, 
Vice-President, this Bank has lost an able, honest, 
and efficient officer, the community one of it best 
and most valued citizens, and we, his colleagues, a 
highly esteemed and valued associate and friend. 

Resolved , That this Bank be closed during the 
hours of the funeral services, and that the Direct- 
ors and Officers, as far as practicable, attend the 
same in a body. 

Resolved , That the Cashier of this Bank be di- 
rected to enter these resolutions on our minutes, 
and to furnish a copy for publication, and to the 
family of the deceased. 

CHARLES C. DRURY, Cashier. 


December iS, 1S80. 


79 


TRIBUTE FROM THE FOREMEN OF THE 
CAR WORKS. 


At a meeting of the foremen of the Barney & 
Smith Manufacturing Co., held this 20th day of 
December, the following preamble and resolutions 
were unanimously adopted : 


Whereas, It has pleased Almighty God to re- 
move by death our esteemed fellow-citizen, E. E. 
Barney, the President of this company, therefore, 

Resolved , That we, and the entire community, 
have lost a friend whose value can scarcely be 
estimated ; one, diligent in business, far-seeing and 
accurate in judgment, sympathetic with associates, 
the friend of the working class, and a conscientious 
Christian. 

Resolved , That we express our tenderest sympa- 
thy with the bereaved family, and regard ourselves 
only less afflicted than they. 

Resolved , That a copy of this preamble and reso- 
lutions be presented to the family of the deceased, 
and one for publication in the daily papers. 


B. B. CHILDS, 

C. C. JAMES, 

E. M. FRENCH, 
H. A. BILLINGS, 
S. HURLBERT, 


S. TESSEYMAN, 

M. STINE, 

H. HEFFERMAN, 

J. AMON, 

WM. HESLER, 

Foremen. 


80 


TRIBUTE FROM THE CINCINNATI BAPTIST 
SOCIAL UNION. 

The Cincinnati Baptist Social Union, at a 
meeting held March 8th, 1881, adopted the follow- 
ing preamble and resolutions : 

Whereas, The announcement has reached this 
Union of the decease of Brother E. E. Barney, of 
Dayton, 0., at his home, on the 17th day of 
December, 1880, therefore, 

Resolved, That the members of this Union, con- 
scious of their personal loss by this dispensation of 
Divine Providence, hereby express to the family 
of the deceased their deep sorrow and tenderest 
sympathy in this great bereavement. 

Resolved , That this Union hereby records its 
appreciation of the immense value of the counsels 
and gifts of our deceased brother to the various 
interests of the Baptist denomination, not only in 
Ohio, but in the country at large, and its sense of 
the great loss sustained in his death. 

Resolved, That in his noble qualities of mind and 
heart, his broad views and sympathies, his unswerv- 
ing loyalty to and humble faith in Christ, and his 
untiring devotion to the upbuilding of the Redeem- 
er’s kingdom in every department of Christian 
enterprise, our brother has left a shining example 
worthy the imitation of all. 

Resolved, That this expression be duly recorded 
upon the minutes of this Union, be published in 


81 


the Journal and Messenger, and also be transmitted 

c / 

to the family of the deceased. 


Cincinnati, March 8, 1881. 


GEORGE E. STEVENS, 

R. A. HOLDEN, 

GEORGE F. DAVIS, 

J. H. TANGEMAN, 

Committee. 


8 


82 


TRIBUTE FROM THE MONTGOMERY COUNTY 
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 

At a meeting of the Montgomery County Horti- 
cultural Society, held at the house of Mr. S. M. 
Sullivan, January 5th, 1881, Mr. Robert M. Steele 
offered the following tribute: 

Since our last meeting another of our members 
has passed away. The associates of Mr. E. E. 
Barney, in the various walks of life, have so fully 
expressed their appreciation of his character, that 
it only remains for our Society to record his serv- 
ices to the cause of horticulture. We shall miss 
his genial presence and kind counsels at our meet- 
ings. Alive to every public interest, he was always 
ready to co-operate in efforts to adorn and beautify 
our city. When he took charge of the old Dayton 
Academy, nearly fifty years ago, one of his first 
efforts was to enlist the larger boys in planting the 
yard with shade trees. A Saturday excursion to 
the country in search of trees was inaugurated, and 
each boy was encouraged to select, plant, and care 
for a tree, to be called by his name. I well recol- 
lect the interest with which I watched my particu- 
lar tree. No doubt good seed was thus sown which 
bore fruit in after years, in the planting of many 
shade trees. Flower beds were also assigned to 
the girls, who were expected to plant and cultivate 
them. These were advanced ideas for fifty years 
ago ! 


83 


But Mr. Barney’s special work in connection 
with horticulture, was the wide dissemination, 
through his instrumentality, of the catalpa tree. 
Impressed with the rapid disappearance of our 
forests, and believing that the catalpa, for its re- 
markable lasting qualities, would be most valuable 
for timber, he entered upon the work of calling 
attention to it with the enthusiasm and energy 
which- characterized whatever he undertook. He 
wrote for the newspapers, published a pamphlet, 
and gratuitously distributed seed to every quarter 
of the globe. The result has been the planting of 
thousands of acres of these trees, with a benefit to 
future generations that is incalculable. So unwill- 
ing are some men to believe in, and so rare are 
purely disinterested efforts for the public good, that 
Dr. Warder relates, that after the gratuitous distri- 
bution of the pamphlets and seeds at the meeting 
of the National Forestry Association at Washing- 
ton, the gift was looked upon-with suspicion, until 
explained, as an advertisement of some selfish 
scheme. In this work Mr. Barney expended a 
large amount of money and valuable time, for 
which he deserves the credit of every horticul- 
turist. 

Resolved , That this society expresses its deep 
sense of loss in the death of Mr. E. E. Barney, 
and its high appreciation of his disinterested serv- 
ices in the cause of Horticulture. 

Resolved , That our warm sympathy is extended 


84 


to the family of the deceased in their great be- 
reavement. 

Ordered to be written on the record and to con- 
stitute part of the minutes. 


85 


TRIBUTE FROM THE TRUSTEES OF DENISON 
UNIVERSITY. 

At the annual meeting of the trustees of the 
Denison University, held at Louisville, June 30, 
1881, the following was unanimously adopted : 

In the death of our brother and associate in the 
trusteeship of Denison University, Eliam E. Bar- 
ney, LL.D , of Dayton, we have suffered an irrep- 
arable loss. A teacher in the College in his early 
life, he has ever manifested the warmest interest 
in its welfare. He added to the endowment of the 
University sixty-seven thousand dollars. But his 
usefulness to the institution can by no means be 
measured by his princely gifts. His earnest and 
efficient efforts to enlist the sympathies of others 
in Christian education will long be remembered. 
His wise and discriminating counsels, now crystal- 
lized in the policy of this board, will remain an elo- 
quent witness to his fitness to be a curator of a col- 
lege. His memory, also, deserves from us special to- 
kens of respect for his work during many years as 
an educator and as a participant in manifold move- 
ments for the cause of truth and righteousness. 
We rejoice that the affection of his family and 
their hearty sympathy with him in his desire 
for the welfare of our College, as shown in their 
memorial offering, has enabled us to attach his 
name to one of our professorships) that it may go 


86 


down to posterity as that of one of its most be- 
loved founders and benefactors. To our deep feel- 
ings of condolence with his widow and children 
we join our prayers for their divine consolation. 


87 


TRIBUTE FROM THE STOCKHOLDERS OF THE 
WISCONSIN CENTRAL RAILROAD COMPANY. 

At the annual meeting of the stockholders of 
the Wisconsin Central Railroad Company, held in 
Milwaukee on the last Thursday of May, a. d. 
1881, the president reported that Mr. E. E. Bar- 
ney, of Dayton, and Mr. Samuel Gould, of Boston, 
who had been directors of this railroad for many 
years, had died since the last stockholder’s meet- 
ing, and offered the following preamble and resol- 
utions, which were unanimously adopted : 

Whereas , it has pleased God, during the past 
year, to remove by death two of the most valued 
and efficient members of our board, Mr. E. E. 
Barney, of Dayton, Ohio, and Mr. Samuel Gould, 
of Boston, Massachusetts : 

Therefore he it resolved , that we deplore their loss 
as a great misfortune to our company. To their 
strong and hearty support, their unfailing courage, 
and their wise counsels we are largely indebted for 
the success with which serious obstacles have been 
overcome, and for the prosperity which has at- 
tended our affairs. In their death we have lost 
valued friends and most faithful and efficient 
helpers ; 

Resolved , that these resolutions be spread upon 


88 


our records, and that copies be forwarded to the 
families of the deceased. 

Attest: EDWIN H. ABBOT', 

Secretary. 







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